Tone-reflector for musical instruments.



J. A. BOLANDER. TONE REFLECTOR FORNMUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED use. 2, 1912.

1,207,678. Patented Dec. 5,1916.

JOHN A. BOLANDER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TONE-REFLECTOR FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Application filed December 2, 1912. Serial No. 734,487.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OHN A. BOLANDER, acitizen of the United States, residing at No. 26 OFarrell street, in thecity and county of San Francisco, State of California, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in ToneReflectors for MusicalInstruments, whereof the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of music, and particularly to thatdivision of the art which treats of musical sound produced byinstruments of the violin tribe. In playing such instruments, thevibrations of strings are communicated through a bridge to the body ofthe instrument, and said body, containing a volume of confined air, isset into resonant vibrations, sound being given off into the surroundingair. The beauty and efliciency of the tone is affected by the charactorof the environment, such as the absorptive or reflective nature of thesurrounding objects; and where there is proximity of soft and yieldingobjects, such as draperies and the face and clothes of the player, thesound is detrimentally absorbed thereby.

It is the object of my invention to provide means for preventing theaforesaid detrimental effect of proximate absorbing objects on the soundof musical instruments, and particularly the effects produced on violinsound by the players clothes; and to this end my invention consists in areflector of suitable material interposed between the instrument and theperson, and shaped and arranged to receive the sound and reflect it awayfrom the player.

It also consists, in the novel parts, combinations, and arrangements setforth in the following description, particularly pointed out in theclaims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of which Figure 1is a view in side elevation of a violin, showing my sound reflector inplace; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my sound reflector; and Fig. 3 isa view partly in section, taken along the line aa Fig. 2, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrows.

The same symbol of reference marks the sam part in whichever view saidpart may appear.

Describing my invention in detail, and referring to the drawing", 1 is asound reflector, which is formed in this instance for a violin Asubstantially as shown in the drawings, the perspective view in Fig. 2being especially referred to. The changes of construc tion needed toadapt my device to other instruments are such as any person skilled inthe art can readily make from the description of the violin typecontained herein, they will not be detailed in this description, itbeing understood that I do not confine my device to use with violinsalone, but claim its use with all other instruments to which it may beadapted. It is arranged to set on the back end and project toward thebelly of a violin by a side portion 2 conforming in shape and size tothat end and adjacent parts of the instrument, and mav be made of anysuitable material, preferably of flexible character, such as fineleather, so as to cling closelv thereto, and adapt itself to slightvariations in form of the usual standard size. A curved top plate 3, anda curved bottom plate 4, are attached to said side portion, the toppiece extending to the front end of the tail piece B, and the bottompiece extending considerably farther toward the belly of the instrument,Figs. 1 and 2 showing the constructional features referred to, with therequisite clearness.

The curves of the top and bottom plates are such as to bring them closeto the body of the violin along their line of juncture with the sidepiece, and to expand toward their middle and free edges, so as to leavespace between the plates and the sounding boards of the violin whichincreases from the back to the forward end of the sound reflector.Arranged as described, the sound from the sounding boards of theinstrument, are reflected forward and away from the body of the player.

The curved plates are made of any suitable material, celluloid answeringthe purpose especially well, as it reflects in the way desired, and isnearly transparent. The bar 5 assists in giving the downward curve tothe plate 4; strips 6 and 7 of soft material, like leather, are fixedall around the inside edges of the plates, and lie between the platesand the body of the violin. A chinrest not shown, such a device beingwell known may be placed in position directly over the reflector ifdesired; chamois or other. suitable material also not shown may besecured around the edge of the top plate, and laid over that portion ofthe top plate on which the chin of the player would naturally rest.

Believing I have produced novel and useful improvements in that class ofinvention and having fully described the same to sufficiently enableothers skilled in the art to which the same appertains, what I claim anddesire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with the back end of a violin and the tail-piecethereof, a forwardly projecting and expanding removable sound reflectorcovering said back end and tailpiece.

2. In combination with a violin, a sound reflector comprising upper andlower curved plates of reflecting material, removably fitted over theback end of the violin and gradually projecting and expanding forwardly,and a flexible surrounding side member, securing said plates.

8. A sound reflector for violins, comprising an upper and lowerforwardly projectin g and expanding plate, and a flexible member adaptedto secure said plates around the surrounding edges of the back portionof said musical nstrument.

4. A sound reflector for a musical instru- A JOHN A. BOLANDER.

Witnesses C. MARTEL, D. B. RICHARDS.

G'opies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

